Heavenly Bodies
by Slinky-and-the-BloodyWands
Summary: Adventures in Ascension for a kinda-dead John Winchester and Buffy Summers. Supernatural/BtVS/Stargate SG-1 crossover. Told in a series of one-shots.
1. Heaven is a Greasy Spoon

**Disclaimers:** I don't own _Buffy the Vampire Slayer _or_ Supernatural _or_ Stargate: SG-1_. Obviously, I'm not making any cash on these.

**Series Summary:** Adventures in Ascension for John Winchester and Buffy Summers. Supernatural/BtVS/SG-1. A series of one-shots.

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_**Heavenly Bodies**_

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**Summary:**Buffy doesn't quite die this time around. She finds herself on a different plane of existence, drinking coffee with another kinda-dead guy, John Winchester. First in Heavenly Bodies 'Verse.

**Note:** Setting is pretty obvious; post season 1 for SPN, several years post Season 7 for Buffy. Very light on the SG-1 crossover, but it's late in the seasons of SG-1.

**Word Count:** ~1,400

* * *

**"Heaven is a Greasy Spoon"**

* * *

Buffy had always known she was living on borrowed time. She'd not just evaded death, but given it the finger from a celestial standpoint. So, she knew, eventually, the repercussions would catch up with her. This in mind, she was picturing something violent and painful. More evisceration and less…

Glowy.

Buffy Summers went out, not with a bang, but with a shimmer. And she was gone, leaving the other slayers fighting by her side confused but relatively unworried. Because, surely this was the work of their favorite witch. Only it wasn't. And Buffy wasn't coming back.

* * *

A pamphlet would have been nice. Because as much as the shiny people rambled on about ascension and having advanced genes, she honestly wasn't sure what they were talking about. Heaven, from what she recalled of it, had been less confusing than this new plane of existence.

And when she tried asking questions, she got dumped in a white room with a busy looking 24-hour diner floating in the nothingness. Buffy was actually somewhat proud that she'd managed to annoy advanced beings.

Alone, now both without a pamphlet and too-calm explanations, she had no choice but to shrug her shoulders and make her way into the restaurant. The booths along the windows were full, the counter dotted with patrons, backs turned, and not a single one of them looked up in surprise when she entered. For a split second Buffy thought it might be fun to do a back flip, maybe a peppy little cheer, but she doubted they'd even raise an eyebrow…If they were even real. If they weren't just figments of her imagination. Or someone else's imagination.

Buffy shook her head. "I hate _if_s."

She was fairly certain no one would respond, so she was somewhat surprised when a young waitress stopped dead in her tracks, coffee pot held at chest height. She narrowed her gaze at the slayer but the expression wasn't so much menacing as playful.

"You've never been here before," she said.

Buffy shook her head, gave the restaurant a look-over. Sure, it wasn't much different from the one she'd worked in during her time as "Anne," but the color scheme was different, the collection of customers less grabby.

"A solid nope," Buffy chirped. "Is this part of the tour? Because, gotta say, it's not really living up to the 'dissolving into light' part of the experience."

The waitress cocked her head slightly, her eyes widening in realization. "Oh! They sent you to talk to _him_."

Buffy was about to ask the location of the mysterious 'him' when the waitress stepped out of the way, revealing a man, dark haired, scruffy bearded, worn clothes beneath a thick jacket, sitting in the closest booth. Another face in the crowd. Buffy knew without a doubt he wasn't a figment of anyone's imagination.

He was positioned too close to the window, body hunched slightly over the table, his hand holding a pen against an open journal, but his eyes weren't focused on the page but the window itself. All Buffy saw was blinding white nothingness outside, but he must have seen something else past the glass, because there was a slight wetness to his eyes. Not quite sad tears, but some emotion she couldn't read.

Buffy slid into the seat across from him. Because that's what one did in an imaginary diner.

He didn't look her way but his shoulders were tense. "I'm not buying whatever you're selling," he said.

His voice was rough, as if it hadn't been used in a while, and the tone hard. Buffy didn't particularly care for the attitude.

"Well, this confirms what everyone has been saying about my less-than-masterful sales pitch," Buffy noted.

The man made a noise. It was kind of like a grumble, but Buffy had a feeling it was supposed to be a broken laugh. Then his frown hardened. "I'm sick of hearing you people. I didn't ask for this, and I sure as hell am done making _deals_."

And, as if he'd said something funny, he gave another laugh.

"O…K…" Buffy blinked.

"Refill?"

Buffy glanced up to see the waitress, looking as cheerful and oblivious as the average fare. The man's coffee cup was topped off without his permission. He didn't acknowledge the action.

"Thanks for sending me to sit with Mr. Grumpy," Buffy said, shooting the woman a tight grin. "He's been oh-so helpful in the not at all sense."

This seemed to catch his attention. He looked away from the window, a surprised brow raised. But before he could speak, the waitress sighed.

"You know," the woman said, "this was easier back when Oma was around to explain things to people like you…The troublemakers…"

Buffy raised her head. "Oma-whatta?"

The waitress only smirked. "I think he's ready to talk now."

She was gone in the length of a blink. Buffy's breath caught in her throat when she realized the waitress wasn't the only one missing. All of the customers were gone. All accept for the man sitting across from her.

"You know, you'd think death would make things less complicated," Buffy said.

"Not how it works."

Buffy was almost startled by the reply. The man was staring at her now, some suspicion in his low brow, but the tension had left his shoulders.

"You're not one of them," he added.

"I'm pretty sure we're all in the same club."

He was silent a moment. Buffy thought it might be a sign of denial.

"I'm John," he finally said. "John Winchester. So, did you actually die or did you just get stuck here?"

Buffy bit down her smile. "Not quite sure. One minute I'm fighting vampires, the next one I'm chatting with someone who hadn't quite met their 'wise sayings' quota for the day. But I guess I'm as good as dead. Right?"

John smiled. It brought a youthfulness to his face that Buffy hadn't noticed. It wasn't entirely unpleasant.

"You're a hunter," like he knew it to be fact.

"They call me a slayer," Buffy corrected. "I'm guessing that observation means we're in the same profession?"

John shrugged. "Were. I got where I was going, escaped… Found myself here afterwards. Guess my business was done."

"So, John, where are we exactly?"

John stared out the window again, as if he were seeing something else. "Limbo. The space between. They're going to try to talk you into ascension."

Buffy followed his gaze, squinting. She could just barely make out an outline against the white, two tall shapes, men, walking side by side. It looked like one was elbowing the other. It was more of an impression than an actual image, but it left Buffy smiling. She wasn't quite sure why.

"My sons are out there," John said. It was almost a whisper. "Without me."

Buffy cleared her throat. It felt wrong looking out the window, trying to see what wasn't hers. She turned the attention back to the matter at hand. "I thought we were already, you know, ascended. Without the demonic snake lightshow."

John raised a brow at the last part but ignored the comment. "Almost. Not quite. We can if we want. We do, we leave everything else behind. Everything's got a price."

"I think we already have, left everything," Buffy noted. "Plus, the shiny guy who greeted me said this ascension thing led to awesome powers."

John shook his head. "They have rules."

"I hate rules," Buffy agreed. She leaned back against the soft booth, grinning faintly. She remembered being offered power in the past. She hadn't taken it. She'd had something to lose. "Of course, the funny thing about rules, you can't break them unless you have them."

John closed the journal in front of him before raising his eyes again, giving her a measuring stare. His mouth was set in a line, the wetness at his eyes back but unshed. Buffy wasn't sure why, but she had the feeling that she reminded him of someone.

"What's your name?"

"Buffy."

* * *

Ascension. The end of the road. The peak. All the strength of the human soul made into solid power.

No interaction. No saving people. All sitting back, watching, knowing and not telling.

To Buffy Summers, that meant this non-life was a waste of time. But she took it with a smile and a promise to learn. Funny thing, the ascended actually believed her.

Buffy had done plenty of things to piss off the Powers That Be, throw off the universe in general. Most of the time, it was through no fault of her own. But this time...

Buffy had a feeling they weren't going to forgive her for this one. Because she'd done as they wanted, joined them, talked John into doing the same.

And the Slayer and the Hunter were going to make them regret their company.


	2. Book Learnin'

**Disclaimers:** I don't own _Buffy the Vampire Slayer _or_ Supernatural _or_ Stargate: SG-1_. Obviously, I'm not making any cash on these.

**Series Summary:** Adventures in Ascension for John Winchester and Buffy Summers. Supernatural/BtVS/SG-1. A series of one-shots.

**Note:** Setting is pretty obvious; post season 1 for SPN, several years post Season 7 for Buffy. Very light on the SG-1 crossover, but it's late in the seasons of SG-1.

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_**Heavenly Bodies**_

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**Summary: **Ascended Buffy decides not to tell John about her past with words alone. More John/Buffy than the first story.**  
**

* * *

**"Book Learnin'"**

* * *

She'd gotten the idea from his journal. It wasn't real. Well, it was _real_, but it wasn't "the" real journal. Yet, he told her it contained everything he knew about his profession. And other stuff, too. He didn't tell her much about the other stuff, but Buffy figured it had to do with the sons he'd left behind.

Then Buffy had a thought. Which, as everyone knew, led to dangerous happenings.

As it turned out, there were things that were against the Ascension rule book, and then there were things that weren't. Like certain powers. Abilities.

The odd thing was, everyone up in Ascended Land kept unusually tight-lipped around Buffy and John. When Buffy tried to call them on it, they asked about the one who'd guided them to ascension. As in, who? Buffy didn't have an answer, and, for some reason, not having an answer led to the other ascended ones taking off in the other direction. Apparently, they had some powerful enemies in another universe and none of them were willing to risk befriending the new kid for fear of a Narc in their mist.

Buffy wasn't sure what that was about. Finally, though, she'd found a guy from a planet called Asbestos, totally still rocking the "newbie" vibe himself, and he filled her in on a few things he'd learned from a woman named Oma.

Again with the Oma.

Buffy was really starting to wish she'd met this lady.

"So, by create…you actually mean 'create'. "

"On these planes, yes. There are many things you do not yet know," he confirmed. There was a twinkle in his eye. "I must go. The Others do not care for us interacting with you."

And then Mr. Asbestos had glowed her off. Buffy was starting to think someone upstairs didn't like her very much.

* * *

There was something comforting in the deep rasp of his voice. "Didn't take you for much of a reader."

"Hey!" Her offended vibe lasted all but a second before she shrugged. "I've got a feeling both of us ended up clocking more library hours than we would have liked," she replied.

John didn't disagree.

Buffy closed the double doors behind them, resisting the urge to look out the tiny windows, knowing it would somehow hurt worse if she saw white nothingness instead of a busy school corridor. She rested her hand against the grain of the wood a moment before she turned back to John. Well, she'd intended to look at John, but she was too transfixed by her surroundings to concentrate on much else.

"Those upper-level Others can talk smack about the lower planes all they want, but they sure don't flake out on the world building down here." She stepped further into the room, eyes searching the shelves, checking behind the counter. A part of her expected to see Giles stepping out of his office, ready to give her an assignment. Or Willow, leaning over a stack of books being propped up by a snoozing Xander.

But the library was empty. Which was good. It was why she'd placed it here.

"Looks like we're in a school."

Buffy nodded, "That's what I… I mean, when I first met most of my friends, we were... You know the watcher I mentioned? He worked as a librarian at my high school, so we'd meet here, find out what we could on the latest Big Bad. That and eat donuts." She finally pushed the emotion back down enough to spare John a small smile. "Granted, this isn't the same place. We blew my old high school up. Giant evil snake problem. You know, demons aren't as pretty when they ascend, which I think they left out of the manual up here."

"Blew it up?" John's eyes widened in mock surprise. "You?"

"I give you 'giant snake' for a second time, and you get hung up on the explosives?" She shook her head. "If it helps, we didn't blow it up when they re-built. We sank that one. And the town, too."

John wasn't listening. Buffy could tell because of the look in his eye. It wasn't quite the "I've purposely zoned you out" expression she sometimes received from Xander when she discussed heel height versus skirt height. No, this was a different expression altogether. And the last time she'd seen it on a man's face…

John's mind was elsewhere, but his eyes were right there. On hers. And they were filled with regret, a regret which had nothing to do with what eventually came out of his mouth.

"I wonder how long I was there," he finally said, "in the diner."

Buffy didn't need to ask what he meant. Here, on the planes of the ascended, time had a way of slipping away when you weren't paying attention. Especially without a guide to help you through the levels… Buffy almost grinned at that thought. If she ever got a chance to tell her friends about ascension, she just knew Andrew was going to compare it to a video game. Because, truth be told, she'd almost made a "level up" joke when she'd figured out that their "powers" increased whenever they became more "enlightened."

Yeah, there was a reason why Buffy hadn't wanted to be a theology major… Or a game designer.

"I'd still be there if it weren't for you." John stepped away from the admission quickly. He cleared his throat, pocketed his hands, and nodded toward the line of books laying out on the closest table. "So, I'm guessing we're not here to return an overdue book."

"Not so much." Buffy led him to the chairs but sat on the table top in front of him, lifting a heavy-looking tome onto her lap and turning it in his direction. There was no title across the leather binding. She chewed her lip a little. "This is me."

John stared up at her, one eye brow raised. Buffy was really starting to like his I'm-amused-and-oblivious face. It was kind of adorable on his manly-man exterior. Still, adorable or not, it didn't help with the nervous fluttering in her stomach. Were you still supposed to be able to feel that as a glowy figure? Seemed unfair.

"This is my life, pretty much." She let out a breath, tried to smile, and failed. "Buffy, A-Z. I got the idea from your journal. I just concentrated on it, and it began to write itself. Anyhow, I figured that, if the rest of the ascended world is going to try its best to ignore us, that kind of makes us each others only friends. And friends share things."

Buffy handed it to him, partly to hide how badly her hand was shaking, thank you, rattled nerves. Another one of those things she figured shouldn't be happening to someone without a body.

John took the book from her and sat it down on the next chair, not sparing it a second glance. "I think we've shared," he said.

Buffy knew there were a couple different ways to take his reaction. On the one hand, she could have been outraged that he'd chosen not to learn her deepest, darkest secrets. Of course, on the other hand. . . Buffy knew he could see the fear on her face. Because offering John that information wasn't easy.

She hadn't been lying. On this plane, he was maybe her only friend. And he was a hunter in his dimension. Buffy couldn't know how he'd react to some of the things she'd done in her life.

Buffy leaned down across the front of the table, her legs falling on either side of him. She caught his eyes for just a moment, then caught his lips. He was frozen for a split second before he rose from his seat, pushing the kiss deeper.

Buffy pulled away for a breath that instinct told her she still needed. "There's something else… These other books." She glanced the brimming shelves. "They're about the ascended. And there's one, it has to do with the Earth closest to us. It's not yours or mine, John. Which was a bit of a let down. But there's some stuff about it…Some things we could learn."

John raised a hand. The fingers felt as hard, as callused, as they had been in life, when they cupped her cheek, but the gesture itself was gentle.

"Later," he said, that thick rasp back to his voice. "We've got time."

Then, he did the catching.


End file.
